Hi, Which telescope should i buy for my 1st one?

[lins]

Hi there, my 9yr old daughter and I want a telescope as we love star gazing, moon, galaxies ect so which would be the best one to buy for beginners but also a good one, thankyou

[John]

Hi - welcome to Stargazers Lounge !.

Can I ask what sort of budget do you have ?

There is such a lot of choice these days that a budget helps to narrow things down a bit !.

[costeveol]

I personally would'nt go for anything on a EQ mount if it's for you and your daughter to start off with - Maybe a Skywatcher Heritage 130 - Very portable, easy to use (as long as you have a garden table to put it on) The 5" Mirror will give nice views and it's only £130 new - I've seen them go for as little as £80 on Ebay.

You could always go for a 6" Skyliner like me - an excellent scope in my opinion - I picked mine up for £200 new a few months ago. But the Heritage will probably be a wiser choice for your 9 year old.

But hey, there are many people on here with a far greater knowlege than me.

Good Luck

[JamesM]

No such thing as a beginner's scope - only one that works well! Skywatcher do offer a range of smaller scopes and the dobsonian type of scope will offer the best value for money as there are no electric gizmos to subtract from your spending money. As John said above, a budget would be helpful as a good starting point.

James

[nightvision]

Alt/Az mounted reflector of at least 6"/150mm.

You don't mention what you currently use, if you don't have any bins consider putting a good set on your list, they made the biggest impact on me when I was 9. 7x50 hand held while reclined on a sun lounger works well and the large exit pupils take full advantage of those young eyes. A tripod mounted laser pointer is great for showing where things are.